Collected Works (Vol. I)

212 THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST The shadows of my hopes devoured, The crowns of my intent cast down, The hate that shone, the love that lowered, Make up God’s universal frown. O Lord, O Hormakhou,! display The rosy earnest of the day ! The mighty pomp of desolate Dead kings, a pageant, moves along ; Dead queens unite in desperate, Unsatisfied, unholy song. O Khephra,? manifest in flesh, Arise, create the world afresh ! The silence of my heart is one With memory’s insatiate night ; I hardly dare to hope the sun. I seek the darkness, not the light. O Lord Harpocrates,? be still The moveless centre of my will ! My sorrows are more manifold Than His that bore the sins of man. My sins are like the starry fold, My hopes their desolation wan. O Nuit,’ the starry one, arise, And set thy starlight in my skies ! In darkness, in the void abyss, I grope with vain despairing arms. The silence as a serpent is, The rustle of the world alarms. O Horus,® Light in Darkness, bless My failure with thine own success ! My suffering is keen as theirs That in Amenti taste of death ; 1 The Dawn-God. 2 The Beetle-Headed God, who brings light out of darkness, for He is the Sun at Mid- night. 3 God of Silence. child. 4 The bowed Goddeéss of the Stars. Shown as a naked woman, her hands and feet on the earth, the arms and legs much elongated, so that her body arches the firmament. 5 The Hawk-headed Lord of Strength, the Avenger of Osiris’ death. Usually shown as a Not mine own pains create these prayers : For them I claim the living Breath. O Lord Osiris,’ bend and bring All winters to thy sign of Spring ! Poor folly mine: I cannot see Save from one corner of one star ! So many millions over me; So many, and the next, how far! O Wisdom-crowned Ta-hu-ti,? lend Thy magic: let my light extend !3 I cannot comprehend one truth. My sight is biassed, and my mind— One snake-skin thought is of its youth ; Grows old, and casts the slough behind. O Themis,* Lady of the plume, Shed thy twin godhead in the gloom ! How ugly is this life of mine ! How slimes it in the terrene mud ! Clouds hide the beauty all-divine, The moonlight has a mist of blood. O Hathoor,® Lady of the West, Take thy sad lover to thy breast ! Even the perfumes of the dawn Intoxicate, deceive the soul. Let every shadow be withdrawn ! Let there be Light, supreme and whole ! O Ra,® thou golden Lord of Day, The Sun of Righteousness display ! The burden is so hard to bear. I took too adamant a cross; This sackcloth rends my soul to wear ; My self-denial is as dross ! O Shu,’ that holdest up the sky, Hold thou thy servant, lest he die ! 1 The Redeemer by His suffering. 2 Thoth, the Ibis God. Equivalent to the higher Hermes. 3 Khabs am Pekht again. 4+ Goddess of Justice. 5 Goddess of Beauty and Love. 6 The Hawk-headed God, the Sun in his strength. 7 The Egyptian Atlas—a rebours.